“Are you really gonna do it, master?”
Watching Hikari pull on my sleeve and look up at me hurts my heart, but I’ve made my decision.
Minotaurs are strong. We can’t make progress and defeat them without some sacrifice.
…And as a result, three out of nine are down.
It’s been going well so far, but it looks like the other minotaurs have realized that some of their friends were taken out, and are now more alert.
Do we need to come up with something else?”
“I tried making steak today.”
Using minotaur, of course. Their skin is tough when I hit it with my sword, but the meat is soft and tasty.
As Hikari stuffs her cheeks with it, her mood starts to improve, and it brings a smile to my face.
I did make this to try to make her feel better… So that’s nice.
“What are we going to do next?”
“…Judging by how you felt fighting them so far, how many do you think you can take on at the same time?”
“Two if I focus on defense. What about you, Sora?”
“I could probably hunt two if I used my skills generously.”
The feeling that I got after fighting them was that they’re not as strong as Gonza. If I didn’t go through that battle, I probably wouldn’t be able to fight the minotaurs like this.
Sera seems surprised by my answer, but I guess she remembers that I have all sorts of skills, and doesn’t really say anything.
But what now?
We reduced their numbers by luring them with blood bear meat.
They’re monsters, but they still need to eat. I wondered if that was different for dungeon monsters, but I have seen them eat.
And so, we did some sabotage to try to starve and bait them. Hikari was really sad because she was looking forward to eating blood bear, but she just had to bear with it.
That means we managed to reduce their numbers, but they started to catch on to our tactics, and it stopped working.
We would eventually wipe them out if we took our time, but I don’t want this to take too long. There’s a chance that my objective will fail even if I get the laurel tree fruit, and I’m worried that more minotaurs might show up. Who knows what might happen in a dungeon.
Everyone seems worried, because they know that too.
Even if Sera and I take on four of them, that leaves two. If the others have to take on two of them, there’s a chance that they’ll be overwhelmed.
“Sora, how many mana potions do you have left?”
“I picked a lot of medicinal herbs before, so my stock is looking pretty good.”
“…Then I want to try something. You don’t want to spend too long here, right?”
I nod to Chris. We need to consider the time it will take us to get back too, and the time it will take to make the petrification cure.
“Are you sure?”
I’m surprised to hear Chris’ proposal, and Rurika looks unsure too.
“I tried it before, so it should be fine. It’s just that it spends a lot of magic energy, and that is where the mana potions come in.”
She’s talking about summoning more than one spirit, and using two types of spirit magic at the same time.
That must put a lot of strain on her. Was Rurika with her when she did that before?
Chris then starts talking to Rurika with a smile on her face. Is she trying to reassure her?
◇ ◇ ◇
First we check to see if we can lure them with bait, but they’ve learned, and are not biting anymore.
Then we have to follow Chris’ plan.
We get into formation and show ourselves, but the minotaurs still don’t move.
Before we took down those three, they went along with our strategy so well that it was funny, but now they’re not leaving the laurel tree.
We need to get them away from there first, even if just a bit, because Chris’ magic is strong and it might affect the tree too.
Anyway, Hikari and I go ahead and strike first. Sera and Rurika are protecting the other two just in case the monsters go on the offensive, but they’re just watching our movements, and slowly start to move.
“Hikari, cover me.”
Hikari takes some distance, and throws a knife.
This first one is just a regular knife. It can’t break the minotaurs’ skin, but it does attract attention.
I use the opening that attack gives me to get close and swing my sword. Attacking alone means they immediately start to move to surround me, so I need to move away quickly. And as I do, Hikari comes over to support.
Just a bit more, and we can get the minotaurs to move away.
Sometimes they manage to hit me with their clubs, but I suffer almost no damage because of the Protection spell that Mia is continuously chanting. Pain Reduction also means I feel almost nothing, and my movements aren’t hindered.
But Mia has warned me about this too, because not feeling pain doesn’t mean I’m not suffering damage. That’s why I check my stats once in a while to see my HP.
And so, we manage to slowly draw them away, and Rurika and the others get behind them.
Chris then calls the spirits, and I feel the flow of thick magic energy on my skin. The minotaurs notice it too, and they all turn around. I think they’re sensing danger on an instinctual level.
Some try to run, but they’re attacked from the back.
I swing my mithril sword infused with magic energy, and one falls to the ground while screaming.
One turns to me after hearing the scream, but a knife is thrown towards it by Hikari.
The minotaur brushes it away without much concern, but this one carries magic energy and has an explosive effect attached to it. Once it hits, it explodes with a loud boom.
This time, all the minotaurs turn around, and the spirit magic activated by Chris is released towards them.
The green and blue magic each hits a minotaur directly. One has its upper body blown away, and another has a hole blown into its body.
Half of them are down.
Sera takes off running this way, and I approach the shaken minotaurs and attack.
I use Time Shift, a Space-Time Magic spell and quickly take it down. Then I take on another one while Sera and Hikari work together and take down the other. And then, the final one is also safely brought down.
But at the same time, I hear Rurika scream. I turn to look, and see Mia is holding Chris, who collapsed.
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Thx for chapter. Oh that’s rough she pushed that to far.
What are ur bets sora will have to give Chris the mana potion mouth to mouth 👄😏
Thanks for the treat.
Everything would have been resolved more easily if the MC had created a large caliber weapon and shot down the minos from afar